Friday, April 11, 2008

Show and Tell Friday

Be sure to visit other Show and Tell participants found at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ . I am sure that you will find many things that will be interesting.

As a young child I was VERY active. My mother would tell you that I would have been diagnosed as ADHD if the diagnosis had been around at that time. I was also very mechanically inclined. Her constant complaint was that I would dismantle items to "rebuild" them as something else. I guess that I received that trait from my father.

To keep me occupied, my mother let me play with her Singer sewing machine. The salesman had told her that I could not "hurt" the machine. Thus began my love of sewing. The playing continued as I struggled to learn the pedal which was controlled by my knee. I completed a skirt all by myself at the age of five with fabric that my grandmother had given me. From there it was doll clothes, my own clothing, my wedding- my gown and all the bridesmaids dresses, children's clothing and now clothing for my grandchildren. I hope the journey continues for many more years.

Over the years sewing has been a great source of joy to me. I love collecting vintage items used by seamstresses and imagining what is the history behind each of the items. I wonder what project the person was making, who was it meant for, what type of machine was used or if it was done by hand. Did they enjoy sewing or did they find it a chore? I wonder what was going on in their life and how did they fit their sewing in with all of the laundry, ironing, baking and rearing of their family.

I am including a small example of my button collection today for you to enjoy. Times have changed buttons in many ways, the price being only one example. If you notice the beautiful old cards with the buttons still attached, you will see that some of these buttons were only ten cents per card. Imagine getting that sort of deal these days.

I love old buttons too. I have some of my grandmother's buttons that she sewed on cardboard with fabric over it. She had tons of them so they were divided up, some for all of us gals. It was a great source of pleasure for her in her later years working on those buttons.

I agree with you on the sewing. I didn't start as early as you did but I did use my mother's old iron peddle sewing machine. I have my aunts now but it's more for decoration. It still works but when we have the lovely machines that we work on now who would want to go back to the old ones.

Yes, it's fun working on winter/Christmas scenes now. I needed something different to do and I so love machine applique. My customer received the wall hanging today and was very pleased which makes me feel good. I will post it next week, it's a smaller version of the tractor quilt that I made for D. Her hubby collects tractors. I know I need to be working on totes but I just wanted to do this for awhile.

It's Friday already. Where do the weeks go? Back to the barn tomorrow with Funsize to do more grooming. That winter hair is awful to deal with each spring. Wish I could just clip them off completely but they would freeze!

Great buttons, I am building up quite a collection myself as I have become a lover of all things sewing, though my sister was the 'button sorter', I was the 'Jewellry box sorter'-funny how we get our childhood labels.Congrats to you on the new Grandbaby, my mother says it is completely different with daughters and DIL's but she takes a hardline with the DILs!! can't imagine you would be into that!!I try to have the "do chores before blog reading" rule as well....'tis a very fluid rule! Tracey

Love your button collection!As a small child I would sit on the large foot pad and ride as my grandmother worked the machine with her feet.I loved to look through her old button tin.Some were so unique!

What a great show and tell. I don't have much of a button collection myself, but I have to admit I am attracted to the big tubs of buttons at some of the quilting shops I've gone to. Such beautiful little treasures. I really like the framed buttons, what an awesome way to display part of your collection. Thanks for sharing :cD

What a wonderful collection of buttons you have and I just love the way you've displayed some of them! I so enjoyed reading your story about how your love of sewing all started:-) My mom was quite the seamstress and made all our clothes while growing up. She tried to teach me but I never had any interest in it. Sad, considering I was her only daughter with 4 sons! lol Nowadays she only makes angels but still makes their gowns, complete with frills and lace. Her eyesight isn't very good so it's a wonder she can still do a bit of sewing!! xox

I love to sew, too. It is a creative outlet for me. I didn't transfer that on to my kids - yet- we get together and have 'craft day' - we made pillowcases, and now bags. So, they are learning. Love the buttons. My mom probably still has a tin filled with buttons that belonged to my G-grandmother! thanks for visiting my blog!

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About Me

My husband and I started dating when we were 16 and 17, married when we were 21 and 22. We have been married for 46 years and have five children. Our four sons and one daughter are all married and have blessed us with 29 grandchildren.
For 30 years I work as a R.N. in obstetrics which included labor and delivery, nursery and NICU.